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| Paper: |
Australian Optical SETI Project |
| Volume: |
213, Bioastronomy '99: A New Era in Bioastronomy |
| Page: |
553 |
| Authors: |
Bhathal, Ragbir |
| Abstract: |
In a classic paper published by R. N. Schwartz and C. H. Townes in 1961 in Nature it was proposed that a search should be made for ETI signals in the optical region. The optical region being commonly understood to be the region between the ultraviolet (300nm) and the far infrared (30 000 nm). For historical reasons the search has been mainly confined to the microwave region but there is no a priori reason that the search should not be extended to the optical region. In all search strategies the underlying assumption is that ETI will be much more technologically advanced than us. Such being the case it is very probable that they should have mastered the technology for beaming signals at planet earth by laser pulses. This paper describes the $100 000 optical observatory being constructed at UWS Macarthur to search for nanosecond pulses from ETI. It will also discuss the search program and give some results from the search. |
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